East Meets West
by Empress of Everything
Summary: She is the ruler of the Western Empire. He, the coming conquerer from the East. When they meet, it is a momentous occasion. Who will emerge the victor in this battle of wills and wiles? {Fem!Ed, historical AU, Roman AU}


**A/N:** _This is what came of me watching Barbarians Rising. I love history too much._

 _Augusta means Empress, loosely._

 _Catillatio is Latin for Greed and I suppose you can guess who that's supposed to be._

* * *

She was waiting for him in the atrium. Her proud head tipped up, every line of her purple toga and gold trimmed stola arranged to befit the _Augusta_ she was. He took a moment from his weighty thoughts to admire her famed beauty. Even among the vain Xerxians, _Augusta_ Eden Aurelia was considered the most beautiful woman in the entire Western Empire. Now that he was finally able to see her for himself, he would willingly admit he had never seen a woman so perfectly wrought by the gods in all his life.

Her skin looked as if it had been carved from fine wood and smoothed by the hands of a master carpenter. Xerxians were fair haired and pale eyed, but their skin had been kissed by the sun that filled their land and gave them their second name of _Populus et Solis_. Her bloodline flowed true and it showed in her coloring. Her gold hair was bound up on her head and held in place with a purple scarf. Purple stones hung from her ears and neck and gold bangles clinked with every movement of her hands and feet. Her gold eyes were hooded as she observed his retinue file in.

She was, quite simply, the most beautiful woman _Legate_ Catillatio had ever laid eyes on.

He approached the dais on which she stood, alone, and bowed, unable to keep a smirk off his face as he rose. At last, in this long war, he had triumphed over the Western Empire. "It is an honor to finally meet my most impressive foe. _Augusta_ Eden Aurelia, it is my pleasure to stand before you." He reached up and undid the laces of his helmet, revealing the close cropped black hair of his people. She looked down on him with undisguised disgust. In her noble eyes, he was nothing more than scum of the earth. The Eastern and Western Empires had separated long ago and had become two autonomous races, both convinced the other was on the same level as the true barbarians.

"Let me make something very clear to you, _barbarian_ ," she spat, her gold eyes as hard as chips of ice. "I will not allow this Empire to fall without a fight. Do you honestly think I would step aside and simply let you take over?"

Catillatio chuckled, amused that a little woman like her, who's armies lay in ruins across the frontier, would dare to threaten him. With a gesture, he dismissed his retinue. This was a conversation he would rather have in private. The conversation he planned to have with the tiny, defiant blonde could be considered treason if reported back to his _Caesar_. After all, he was just the military leader. His title did not grant him ruling authority. But with the ruler of the Western Empire before him…it was an opportunity he did not wish to let slip from his grasp.

"I have heard much about you, _Augusta_." Catillatio paced in front of the dais, feeling the burn of her eyes upon him. "The woman regent, ruling in place of her absent brother. Though I have heard you have been a better regent than you have been a sister." Her whole body froze at the implications of his words. He relished the horror that spread over her face. He was not necessarily a cruel man but, like most of his peers, seeing the power he held over a now helpless woman was gratifying.

"What have you done to him?" Her whisper was weak. Her hands scrabbled to hold onto a solid surface before she collapsed from shock. She was a strong woman, that he knew, but the implied threat to a brother most beloved to her was enough to bring her to her knees.

"Oh, nothing yet," he said cooly, toying with the hilt of his sword. "We would have to have him in our grasp to harm him." Her face turned thunderous, the weakness from a moment ago vanishing like smoke on the wind. Her rage at his mockery of her brother's life was so amusing. Catillatio continued, slipping the hint of a bargaining tone into his voice. "What if I were to find and bring your brother to you? Hm? What would you do then, oh _Augusta_? What would you do to get him back since you love him so dearly?"

Her sudden intake of breath was hastily covered by that cold mask of disdain. Her lips curled up in a smile, but it was not a happy nor a friendly one. At the same time, it wasn't defeated, either. The renowned cleverness of _Augusta_ Eden Aurelia was finally showing. "Well, _if_ you were to find him, I imagine you would bring him here and force me to bargain to get him back. Paying you an exorbitant amount of gold will no doubt be part of that trade." Her purple tipped nails tapped slowly on the marble of the table behind her. "And then after I make a bargain and we've both sworn to uphold our side, you will have him killed before he can get to me."

He reeled back, genuinely stunned by the sudden turn of her twisted logic. Was this how all Xerxians saw the world, as a series of betrayal and backstabbing and broken faith? He'd heard of their infamous behavior but she expected him to act the same way as her own people?

"What do you take me for, a Xerxian?" He demanded hotly. Her eyes cut to the side and she made a little gesture with her shoulders and hands, as if to say ' _how am I to know?_ '. He took a deep breath and straightened, his black armor clanking. "I will admit, _Augusta_ , I am surprised that you think so poorly of me, that you think I would betray you and have your brother executed if I held him prisoner. I am a man of honor, after all."

"You are the conquerer, sire, and that is the Xerxian way. It is in our blood to be false." A sickly smile crossed her face, the bitterness in her face almost overwhelming. Again she made the same little shoulder gesture. Her eyes turned contemplative and she seemed to droop a bit, losing that stiffness she had held. "Do you know how many people I have lost that were dear to me because of ambitious fools who follow our bloodstained traditions?"

He shook his head, unsure where this line of thought was headed.

 _Augusta_ Eden turned her back on him and walked in slow, measured steps around the dais. The train of her toga brushed against the stone floor as it trailed after her. One of her tiny hands rose to toy with a lock of her hair. Her tone remained conversational, reasonable, as if they were discussing a sudden bad bout of weather rather than human lives.

"In the past five years alone, _Legate_ Catillatio, my father was assassinated. My mother's grave was desecrated and plundered a mere four years after her death. The women who attended me, all daughters of noble houses, gradually vanished from my side. I don't know how many still live and how many are in barbarian hands. My husband was killed, not on the battlefield, but by a cowardly soldier who saw him lying wounded and took a chance, thus depriving this Empire of an heir. And my brother, whom you have chosen to threaten me with? I have no idea of his whereabouts. I have not seen him in four years. You see?" She said, spreading her hands. "You have no one left to threaten me with, unless by some miracle you conjure up my brother and have him brought to me." Her hands dropped as did her voice. "I have no idea why you would come here, unless it was to secure me so I am unable to flee and raise another army against you."

"Which I don't doubt you would do," Catillatio said dryly. "Why did the men who killed your father allow you to remain in the palace if you were such a threat?"

A sly smile crossed her face. Her hands fluttered to clasp at her bosom in a mockery of daintiness, the bangles on her wrists clinking. "Because I am nothing more than a weak, helpless woman who depends on her armies to save her."

"People actually buy that line?" _Augusta_ Eden shrugged and Catillatio hid a smile. She truly was as cunning as the stories told about her said. As cunning as the goddess Minerva, goddess of battle and strategy, the patron deity of her family line. He shook his head, a reluctant laugh escaping. "You would seduce the king of the gods himself with your words, _Augusta_. Seduce him and make him your ally at the same time." Whatever game she was playing at would be difficult to decipher. She had revised the role she was playing from the outraged regent to the cool, sly negotiator. Her next words confirmed his guess.

"You think I would ally with those who take over my lands, burning and pillaging as they go?"

"Is that not the Xerxian way?" He parried, throwing her words from earlier back at her.

Again, the same sly smile crossed her lips. "Perhaps," _Augusta_ Eden said languidly. "You are getting better at these games, _Legate_ Catillatio, I must commend you. One would think you had been born a Xerxian." Her eyes danced like the half smile hidden in her lips.

Catillatio bowed, accepting the compliment for what it was. "I must wonder, though, _Augusta_ , why you would think so suddenly to ally yourself with a conquerer from an opposing Empire when you seemed so determined to keep the Western Empire for yourself."

She paused, an expression of honest surprise crossing her face one moment and vanishing the next. "Do you wish me to be frank, _Legate_ Catillatio?" At his nod, she sighed. She suddenly looked very fragile, like the woman she was instead of the strong façade she showed to the world. He wondered if this was yet another role she was playing. "To be honest, you are the lesser of two evils. I'd rather ally myself with you, despite the heavy tribute you will no doubt demand, than see the Empire I've protected for so long be overrun by the Drachmans."

Catillatio grimaced at the mention of the hated true barbarian race from the North. When he hadn't been fighting the Xerxians, it had been the Drachmans that had hounded and harassed his armies. "Perhaps," he said slowly, "we could negotiate a treaty of goodwill, one that would benefit us both. Unite against a common enemy, if you will."

Her molten eyes gleamed. "Now you seem to be speaking my language, _Legate_." She clapped her hands for the servants. "Have wine and chairs brought. Negotiations should not be made while standing."

They stared aghast at their _Augusta_. "You would give wine to our enemy?" One dared to question her authority. Surprisingly, she did not lash out at him. Instead, she answered his horrified question but spoke at Catillatio.

"No," she said. Her sharp eyes remained fixed on Catillatio. She was regarding him in a new light. Amazing how her attitude had shifted once it was advantageous to her. "I would give wine to a potential ally."

As Catillatio stepped forward to join her on the dais, he couldn't help but hope this sudden, inexplicable alliance would usher in a new era of peace. Peace that he, _Legate_ Catillatio of the Eastern Empire, and _Augusta_ Eden Aurelia of the Western Empire would bring about. And perhaps after bringing about this peace, he wouldn't be a Legate anymore. The title of _Caesar_ was all but in his grasp.

He could only hope this alliance wouldn't end in his death. As beautiful and clever and as compliant now as Eden Aurelia was, she was still a Xerxian.

As the saying went, no wise man trusted a Xerxian fully. It only ended in their demise.

So he would work alongside her to defeat the Drachmans. And when she turned to sheathe her dagger in his back as she no doubt would someday, _Legate_ Catillatio would be ready.


End file.
